


The Email

by moth2fic



Category: The West Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-20
Updated: 2007-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-11 04:26:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moth2fic/pseuds/moth2fic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's so easy to make a mistake online and broadcast private affairs to everybody.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Email

**Author's Note:**

> This is what one of my friends named a 'drabblequence' - a series of connected drabbles that tell a story. They were written in response to a challenge from Hannah who gave us a forgotten or obsolete word (and its definition) each week as a prompt.  
> The 'mature' rating is perhaps undeserved but I used it in case anyone clicked on the URL given in the second drabble. There are two double drabbles. I have been rigorous about using the exact definition of a drabble - 100 words.

&lt;!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --&gt;

 

 

1\. fuzzled - inebriated (A double drabble)

 

CJ shrugged on her coat with a sigh. It had been a long day. Half a long night too. She remembered offering Donna a lift somewhere for some reason. Probably water under the bridge but she'd better check.

No Donna. The door to Josh's office was slightly open, a dim light showing. She glanced in, expecting to have to put the light out, close the door, swear at men under her breath.

Sam and Josh were sitting squashed into one armchair. Asleep. Josh's arm thrown carelessly across Sam, whose face wore a dreaming smile.

They looked so like babes in the wood that she couldn't help grinning. Though there was an empty bottle on the desk and she could smell the whisky fumes.

'Idiots,' she thought. 'Darling idiots.'

They had obviously got tired of waiting for a summons from Leo and drowned their 'sorrows.' They would probably regret it come morning. Meanwhile, CJ found a rug from her own office. She scribbled on a post-it note to the effect that the witch had been kind - this time. Then she covered them with the warm material and tiptoed out, switching off the light and closing the door as she left.

 

2\. zounderkite - one whose stupid conduct results in awkward mistakes. A drabble - wordcount 100 (including URL)

 

Sam stared at the screen. He was tired but he simply couldn't believe he'd done _that_.

It was so easy to send stuff - a mouseclick and they could share everything. Well, everything in cyberspace.

They often sent interesting URLs - ads, blogs, pics, jokes. This morning, he'd had a link from CJ. A site that sent live webcam coverage of an African watering hole. With elephants.

He'd been surfing when he'd found this . . .

He'd fantasised about sending it to Josh but . . .

Had he really sent http://www.islandhousekeywest.com/index.html to the entire White House senior staff?

 

3\. tift - anything as it ought to be. A drabble.

 

Josh stared at the screen. His credit card was burning a hole in his wallet and he was a hairsbreadth from making the booking.

But was the message real? Would Sam?

And the others - well, they wouldn't need to know. Only that their vacation weeks coincided - and they could make anything they liked of that.

Leo and Toby wouldn't be too pleased to lose them both at once, but the nation could probably function without them for a week.

He filled in the booking form and put both their names in the appropriate space.

Then he emailed Sam.

 

4\. clashamaclabber – gossip. A double drabble.

 

Leo stared hard at CJ.

 

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," he told her.

 

"But you must have . . ."

 

"Received it too? Yes, but I deleted it and I intend to squash any gossip."

 

"Oh Leo, you know I wouldn't tell anyone else, but don't you find it funny?"

 

"It wouldn't be funny if Danny got wind of it."

 

Her amused mood deflated.

 

" I wouldn't . . ."

 

"Until he penetrates your defences - or your computer."

 

"He wouldn't . . ."

 

"Access your computer? I wouldn't put it past him . Delete it, CJ."

 

"But won't it leave a trace?"

 

His eyebrows reached the ceiling.

 

"Who's suddenly an expert? Yes, but only for an investigator and they'd have to have the actual machine."

 

"What about the others? How many people are on his list?"

 

"A few good friends. Good enough to make sure they hit that delete button. And none of them at such risk of being hacked by the press." And none of them likely to gossip, he left unsaid.

 

CJ sighed and deleted the email. Pity,really. The resort sounded fascinating and she'd hoped to tease Sam. But Leo, as usual, was right.

 

5\. perjink - exact, precise, minutely accurate. A drabble.

 

Sam shivered. A cool breeze fluttered papers on his desk but his eyes remained on the screen

He re-read the email and examined the booking form for errors.

Errors would be catastrophic, unimaginable.

He shivered again, with a dawning pleasure as he realised it was all exact, precise.

Their names, together.

Josh really had accepted.

They were really going - there - together.

He filled in his credit card details and completed the booking online.

Then turned his attention to the problem of synchronising their leave.

After which, he shivered in anticipation as the breeze caressed his suddenly hot skin.

 

 

6\. moonglade - soft silver track which moonlight traces on the waters. A drabble.

 

They had arrived just before dinner,booked in and been shown to their accommodation.

They had unpacked, still shy, still hardly speaking.

Then they had strolled to the restaurant and eaten a beautifully prepared meal. Still quiet, but more at ease with their unexpected presence here.

Now they had walked down to the beach, and were looking at the moonlight on the calm water.

Then at each other.

Sam had thought he would be the one to initiate things. Something. Anything.

But Josh put his arm round Sam's shoulder and pulled him closer. Very firmly.

And they forgot about the moon.

 

 

7\. puddingtime - the nick of time. A drabble.

 

Leo never stopped to think before calling any of them. They were there for his use and the president's benefit. That was the whole point of their high salaries, their treatment as part of an exclusive family.

So when Sam wasn't in his office, he simply found the cellphone number.

Dialled three digits, then sat stock still.

They were on leave, both of them.

He had never erased the memory, though the email itself was long gone from his computer files.

He knew quite well what time it would be where they were. And he put the phone down, gently.

 

 

8\. smittlish - infectious, contagious . A drabble.

 

Sam had confessed to Josh about sending the email.

His new lover's reaction had been one of unmitigated horror.

Not surprising, really.

Then, just as Sam felt tears building in his eyes and despair in his heart, Josh began to laugh.

Laughed till tears ran down his cheeks, till Sam's own tears had a legitimate reason to fall, as they clutched each other, unable to speak for the gales of laughter that enveloped them, that spread back and forth between them like a plague.

A virus of amusement at the thought of the staff faces on the day in question.

 

 

9\. naufrage – shipwreck. A drabble.

 

They couldn't stay in bed the entire time.

Well, they could, but some lurking sense of propriety insisted they enjoy their holiday in a more conventional way. At least once or twice.

Which was why they were splashing about in a small dinghy when the current caught them, spun them round, tipped them out and snagged their boat on a rock.

Fortunately, the water was warm and shallow.

Fortunately, strong arms were there to hold and steady. They waded back to shore, embarrassed and amused.

Cheered mockingly by others on the beach.

And the yellow dinghy sank without a trace.

 

 

10\. scurryfunge - hasty tidying. A drabble.

 

Josh tried to bury the photographs under other papers. Whatever had possessed Sam to print them? Even if that had some element of reason, why dump them on his White House desk?

Didn't he know Josh never tidied his desk? That Donna was the organiser, the sorter, the filer . . .

He could hear Donna now, answering the phone, firing up her computer, opening the door.

Most of the incriminating evidence was under next month's senate schedule.

Josh tried to look cool. Whistled. Didn't notice the picture, a beach idyll, which had slipped, in the flurry, onto the floor.

 

 

11\. altiloquent - lofty and pompous in speech. A drabble.

 

Leo ushered them into the office.

Bartlett looked up, sighed.

Surveyed them in the manner of a rather grandiose headmaster finding two of his prefects behaving like juniors.

 

'Am I to assume,' he asked heavily, 'That my deputy chief of staff and my deputy communications director are back with us? Holiday truly over? Ready for work?' They assured him that they were indeed back. Refreshed. On the ball. His eyes twinkled fleetingly.

 

'Then I can also assume that your joint leave did you both good,' he said, returning to the papers in front of him.

Leo, shrugging, showed them out.

 

 

 

Finis. (This has gone on long enough!)

 


End file.
